Connecting with WIPO

Upcoming and Past Meetings

Sustainable Development Goals: Innovative technologies to promote healthy lives and well-being, a Joint Technical Symposium by WHO, WIPO and WTO, February 26, 2018Access to, and innovation in, health technologies is a requisite element for ensuring progress toward universal health coverage and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely SDG 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Scientific progress, advances in health technologies and improved trade have contributed to unprecedented improvements in health outcomes. However, gains in life expectancy and quality of life are unequally distributed between low-, middle-, and high-income countries. The seventh technical symposium organized by WHO, WIPO, WTO will discuss challenges and opportunities for the international community to ensure that innovative technologies are developed and reach patients in order to realize the right to health and the health-related SDGs. The event will take place at WHO Headquarters, is open to the interested public and requires registration by February 18, 2018. Further information and online registration.

Antimicrobial Resistance: How to Foster Innovation, Access and Appropriate Use of Antibiotics? A Joint Technical Symposium by WHO, WIPO and WTO (October 25, 2016) Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most pressing challenges for humanity. It affects all areas of health, involves many sectors and has an impact on the whole of society. Increasing resistance threatens to roll back the achievements of modern medicine as many medicinal procedures rely on effective antibiotics. Antibiotics, more than other medicines, can be considered a public good for which society has a collective responsibility. The Symposium will offer a forum to exchange views and experiences, to achieve a better understanding of the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance and to envisage possible ways forward.

The Seminar presents the WIPO Global Challenges Report Patent-based Analysis of the World Health Organization’s 2013 Model List of Essential Medicines. The Global Challenges Report aims at identifying which of the 375 items on the 2013 MLEM are patented and where.

WHO, WIPO, WTO Joint Technical Workshop on Patentability Criteria (October 27, 2015) The workshop complements the WHO, WIPO, WTO Symposium on October 28, 2015 and will provide participants with practical insights into how the main substantive patentability criteria are applied in practice at country level and how different interpretations can impact on public health.

WIPO Symposium on Future Challenges of International Law: The Way Forward in Patenting Biotechnology (November 25, 2009) Organized in cooperation with the University of Berne and the World Trade Institute (WTI), this Symposium addressed the interface between biotechnology, IP rights and international trade, and also explored options for the international patent system following the WTO Doha Round. The Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) presented research conducted in the framework of its International Trade Project on Biotechnology. The program presented case studies on animal and human genetic resources, as well as future challenges regarding the international regulation of IP rights and biotechnology from the WIPO and WTO perspectives.

WIPO Symposium on Public Sector IP Management in the Life Sciences (December 15, 2008) This Symposium explored different national approaches, institutional policies and public-private partnerships in public sector management of IP in the life sciences. It included representatives from WIPO Member States (Cuba, Germany, South Africa, USA), the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), the WHO, the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDI).

WIPO Symposium on Public Policy Patent Landscaping in the Life Sciences (April 7 and 8, 2008) Organized in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, this Symposium included a peer review of a WIPO-FAO Patent Search Project on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, as well as discussions on patent landscaping in public health.

WIPO Symposium on Intellectual Property and Life Sciences Regulation (November 16, 2007) Organized by WIPO in cooperation with the Stockholm Network, this Symposium discussed the IP dimension of protecting regulatory data related to pharmaceutical and agricultural products. It addressed exceptions to patent rights for regulatory processes, the grant of patent term extensions to compensate for regulatory requirements, and the challenge of regulating new technologies – as well as biological pharmaceuticals and diverse approaches to linking patent protection with regulatory approval.

WIPO Symposium on Current Issues in Intellectual Property and Public Health (September 19, 2007) A half-day Symposium in which representatives of WIPO Member States (Chile, France, Thailand), the WHO, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) and Médecins sans frontières (MSF) (Doctors without Borders) discussed current issues in IP and public health.